I have some questions about the HBOS fiasco and all the other similar events around the world.If this is such a predictable event why was nothing done to prevent it?
Do we really want a society built on the greed of a few?
Do we want an economy built on taking risks that mean a few get rich when they come off but the poor suffer when they fail
Why is it is that money talks? When the profiteers are making money from buying and selling what they do not own they reject regulation as "stifling creativity” but when their greed means thousands could loose their jobs and homes, the begging bowl is placed at the feet of the taxpayer and somehow the money industry gets what it wants. No other industry gets that kind of support. Why is it that we can suddenly find billions to put into a bank because it makes money but not into real change to end poverty, which with the same cash could be well within our grasp?
Economics is not a science, nor is it rational. It is based on human emotions, just as all our other relationship are based on how we feel about our experiences of living. Look at the language of the markets; a “confident market”, “traders were nervous”, there was uncertainty in the stock exchange” “an aggressive take-over”, If our economics are ruled by human emotions then is it not rules of rationality but a moral framework that we require, a moral framework must have a bias to the poor?
The answer to the question why was nothing done about what was predictable is because it required a systemic change in what we agree as a society is morally and ethically acceptable from those who work with our money. The problem is not poverty but wealth when the acquisition of wealth has become the definition of success?
When Jesus threw the traders out of the temple he was not saying you shall not trade but that you shall not cause suffering by by your trade. It is time some tables were turned over in our cathedrals of capitalism so we can begin to make sure that those who suffer at the hands of the rich do not again become the victims of their greed.
Posts
2 comments:
Economics is a science, the difficulty comes when one has to consider intangible quantities, like choice.
Business by its nature is dispassionate, its moral and ethical outcomes are measured by culture.
Not sure what you are trying to say here. Even if economics is a science, and I would question that description, it is unable to predict its outcomes from past evidence as science would normally as humanity does not act in the manner that would achieve what economic theory sees as it best outcome, greater wealth, instead they follow what they feel. Any idea of a scientific application is always tempered with this reality
That being the case, we need a moral framework for our approach to economic exchange. Business if not dispassionate,. It does not work in a cultural or moral vacuum nor can it simply suggest that the mortal consequences of its outcomes are separate from its actions that created those outcomes.
thanka for your comment
Ewan
Post a Comment